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EU Parent permanent residence and newborn's citizenship?

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 6:53 pm
by achan892
Hi all,

I am the non-EEA partner (with residence card) of an EEA citizen.

As of October 2012, my partner has been exercising treaty rights for 5+ years. He applied for certification of PR in Nov 2012, but has received nothing from the UKBA acknowledging receipt of his application (the online postal tracking says it was received though).

We are expecting a baby next month and I want to be sure that the baby will automatically be a British citizen at the time of birth (i.e., no need to register baby's citizenship) by virtue of my partner's PR status - even if the UKBA hasn't gotten around to sending the PR document by the time the baby is born. Can anyone confirm that this is the case? Will we have trouble proving that my partner had PR from October 2012 if the PR document is only issued after the baby's birth?

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Re: EU Parent permanent residence and newborn's citizenship?

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 7:00 pm
by EUsmileWEallsmile
achan892 wrote:Hi all,

I am the non-EEA partner (with residence card) of an EEA citizen.

As of October 2012, my partner has been exercising treaty rights for 5+ years. He applied for certification of PR in Nov 2012, but has received nothing from the UKBA acknowledging receipt of his application (the online postal tracking says it was received though).

We are expecting a baby next month and I want to be sure that the baby will automatically be a British citizen at the time of birth (i.e., no need to register baby's citizenship) by virtue of my partner's PR status - even if the UKBA hasn't gotten around to sending the PR document by the time the baby is born. Can anyone confirm that this is the case? Will we have trouble proving that my partner had PR from October 2012 if the PR document is only issued after the baby's birth?

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.
Baby will be British in the circumstances described.

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 7:11 pm
by Jambo
This is all true if the baby is born in the UK.

If the PR docuement would be issued after the child birth, IPS (the authority which issues British passports) would require evidence to prove the parent had PR status before the birth (such as 5 P60's).

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:01 pm
by achan892
Thanks for replies.

Yes, baby will be born in UK.

So basically if UKBA doesn't issue PR document before baby's DOB, we have to send the same set of documentation to the IPS for baby's passport as my partner has sent to UKBA for the PR application?

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:22 pm
by Jambo
achan892 wrote:Thanks for replies.

Yes, baby will be born in UK.

So basically if UKBA doesn't issue PR document before baby's DOB, we have to send the same set of documentation to the IPS for baby's passport as my partner has sent to UKBA for the PR application?
Correct

Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 11:40 am
by achan892
Many thanks Jambo! Perhaps the UKBA will get their act together and send the PR document before the baby comes, but I'm not too hopeful of that, so it's reassuring to know that we can make a back-up plan.

Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 12:55 pm
by Directive/2004/38/EC
Did you enter the UK at the same time as your partner? If so you likely also have PR.

Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 10:38 pm
by boloney
achan892 wrote:Many thanks Jambo! Perhaps the UKBA will get their act together and send the PR document before the baby comes, but I'm not too hopeful of that, so it's reassuring to know that we can make a back-up plan.
If you use back-up plan be prepared to show IPS that you did`t claim benefits during that 5-years. My friends applied for kids passports that way and IPS was asking them for evidence about benefits. I`m sure they provided bank statements to show that there was no benefits payments made during that period.

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 12:03 am
by Directive/2004/38/EC
boloney wrote:
achan892 wrote:Many thanks Jambo! Perhaps the UKBA will get their act together and send the PR document before the baby comes, but I'm not too hopeful of that, so it's reassuring to know that we can make a back-up plan.
If you use back-up plan be prepared to show IPS that you did`t claim benefits during that 5-years. My friends applied for kids passports that way and IPS was asking them for evidence about benefits. I`m sure they provided bank statements to show that there was no benefits payments made during that period.
Was this friend an EEA citizen?

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 7:26 am
by Jambo
IPS would normally ask for proof of not claiming benefits only if you have gaps in your employment. If you can provide 5 P60s you would be fine. Not sure where this practice originated from (probably trying to determine if you exercised treaty rights or became a burden on the state), but there have been reports in the forum that even with claiming benefits (JSA for a short period), the UK born children were issued a passport.

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 2:42 pm
by boloney
Directive/2004/38/EC wrote:
boloney wrote:
achan892 wrote:Many thanks Jambo! Perhaps the UKBA will get their act together and send the PR document before the baby comes, but I'm not too hopeful of that, so it's reassuring to know that we can make a back-up plan.
If you use back-up plan be prepared to show IPS that you did`t claim benefits during that 5-years. My friends applied for kids passports that way and IPS was asking them for evidence about benefits. I`m sure they provided bank statements to show that there was no benefits payments made during that period.
Was this friend an EEA citizen?
Yes, they Polish. At least two of them had to show that they did't claim benefits. They self-employed.

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2013 1:38 pm
by achan892
Directive/2004/38/EC: No, I entered as a student initially and met my partner while studying here. I was then was a post-study worker. So I was under UK immigration rules for ~7 years and then under EU rules (as EEA partner) for the last ~18 months. Thus I don't think I'm eligible for PR yet. (I'm hoping to apply for ILR under the 10 year long residence rule in 2014, assuming that route still exists then!)

The evidence provided for my partner's PR application was:
1. evidence of student status + CSI (covering 3 years)
2. evidence of worker status (covering 2 years)

...so hopefully no need to prove that he wasn't claiming benefits during this time.

Thanks again for your help.